Pours black with a red eclipse into a tulip from a bottle. Fawn head is sparse, two fingers, and foamy before receding; there's moderate lacing left on the glass.

The aroma is quite mild and smoky with that typical smoked porter nose; a little sweet and charred, tobacco notes, wood, and mineral water. The flavour is very true to the aroma with that sweet smokyness, charred grain, some tobacco, an expresso bitterness and something almost metallic and mineral-like in the midst of it all. Lo and behold when I read the label, there it is: brewed with chalk filtered mineral water; it definately comes through.

In the mouth it feels quite wet and light; it sort of flows off the tongue. Carbonation is almost non-existant, there's no oilyness to it.

Quite surprised by this porter, very easy drinking; light. And I think a nice more sessionable version of the English porter style. It is thin but I think the body works for this style in this instance.

A 500ml clear glass bottle with a BB of Jan 2012. This is brewed for ASDA by Shepherd Neame - the brewer's branding is fairly prominent on the label and cap.

Poured into a Sam Smith's pint glass. A very dark ruby colour - it looks black unless held to the light. Creamy light brown head that remains for a few minutes before subsiding. The aroma is rather attenuated; hints of sweet caramel and malt accompanied by weak notes of coffee and roasted grain.

Taste is distinctly bitter with roasted malt and coffee flavours upfront. Hops aren't obvious, but probably contribute to the bitterness. Mouthfeel is prickly and astrigent - could be smoother, and certainly lacks the creaminess of irish stouts. Leaves a bitter coffee aftertaste.

A decent porter, though let down by lack of aroma and mouthfeel. Good flavour for the style. A worthwhile ale when it's available on offer.

This looks great. It has a big brown head and is very dark with just a hint of a ruby red hue to it. It has a nutty nose, probably hazelnut with some cream to it. There is no suggestion of the dread coffee.

It feels very smooth despite generous carbonation. The taste is comforting rather than bold. There is no great roasted malt smokiness to this brew, but rather a fairly brand ovaltine to hot chocolate taste. There is a little bitterness in the aftertaste but hops seem an afterthought here.

A - Poured very nicely with impressive head that stuck around for a while. Menacingly dark body!

S - Smokey and hints of fruit.

T - Bitterness balanced with some sweetness, quite pleasant.

M - Fairly smooth although a little fizzy.

D - Probably could manage a couple of these but no more.

Shepherd Neame/Asda? This beer seems to lack a bit of identity. Hops definitely remind me of the Shepherd Neame range and it is a genuine beers of theirs, the Asda connection certainly had put me off in the past when glancing the shelves. Decent enough beer without being remarkbale.

Revisiting this beer after my first encounter nine months ago. BB MAR. 07, served cool in a straight imperial-pint glass.

A: very dark reddish brown to mahogany colour, coming with a 3cm thick and fluffy-textured beige froth, slowly settling down like a souffle; semi-lively carbonation, as demonstrated by the hissing sound.
S: the sweetish aroma of caramely malts, brown sugar, sugar-coated nuts, an excellent edge of dried red-dates and raisins are buttressed consistently by a tinge of hop resins... deliciously malty, with refreshing fruity edges to balance the malty theme. As it breathes, the dried dates' aroma increases bit by bit and takes over the main theme by stealth~~ Pretty nice.
T: a lightly metallic edge (thankfully dissipating fast...) comes with the smoothly sweet dark maltiness and chocolates... gradually the sweetness turns bitter with a drier kick of earthy and tea-leafy hops, underlining a mildly roasty tinge of black/chocolatey malts and aromatic nuttiness lingering at the back... constantly at presence is a mildly tart-sweet dark-fruits, serving as a good balancer though. Semi-clean in the moderate finish.
M&D: lightly fizzy, retaining a refreshness on the palate throughout; medium-bodied porter at 5.2%abv., while the malty theme is well balanced by a subtle sour-fruitiness and drinks easy and light as a result. It seems to taste better than my last bottle, or my palate has matured over time? All in all, a decent offering from Shepherd Neame~~